Why Writing is Like Thrift Shopping: Sorting Through Chaos to Find Gold

I feel the soles of my feet begin to ache as I take another step toward the mini skirt section. My hand moves methodically, a mind of its own, rattling the plastic hangers into one another as I quickly survey each item on the rack. Too long, too short, too faded, too smelly. The sound of the plastic hangers scraping against the metal rack echoes in my ears. I haven’t eaten in five hours, and my last “meal” was an iced latte with almond milk. I feel myself beginning to fade. The shirts have become skirts, the shoes now belts.

I hold up a prospective skirt to my friend combing through clothes across the room. She frowns. Refocusing on the skirt, I see the garment in a whole new light. What was I thinking? This may be the fugliest skirt I have ever seen.

If you have ever been to your local Goodwill or Salvation Army, you may know this experience all too well.

Thrifting is tiring. Combing through the donated clothes of pilates moms and someone’s grandpa is not for the faint of heart. 99 percent of the clothes at thrift stores are entirely not what you are looking for. You could shop from dawn to dusk, and you still may never find something. But–and I say this “but” with plausible deniability–if you keep looking, you may strike gold.

Now, you may ask, how does this relate to writing? Well, it relates in an abundance of ways.

Hunting for the Perfect Fit:

Writing, like thrift shopping, is all about hunting for the perfect fit. Now, this could mean stylistically. Like all of the different styles of clothes–grunge, preppy, chic, etc–there are kinds of writing. Academic, creative nonfiction, journalistic, and the list goes on. Going even more detailed, you’ll find that there are genres within genres! You could go for fantasy or news writing or historical nonfiction; the options are practically endless!

On one hand, this is great news. You have so many choices to decide from, and if you find you don’t like writing in a specific genre, you can always move onto the next. On the other hand, you could find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of options. That’s when you may ask yourself the following question: How do I find the writing style I most enjoy?

Well, like finding your personal style in clothing, the answer is…Try things on! You shouldn’t be expected to know what your personal style of writing is without being able to experiment. Don’t be afraid that your writing is going to sound “bad” or “embarrassing.” Don’t be too hesitant to wear that frilly top out in public because others may judge you. You can’t become good at something you never try.

Just like the vast amounts of clothes in a thrift store, the vastness of writing and its various genres can be daunting. If you want to overcome this, you need to do the work to find your perfect fit.

Testing your Patience:

Once you have found the genre and style you like, the challenges may not end there. You will most likely find yourself being overly critical of your writing and wondering why some great idea has not struck down upon you. As various philosophers and my consistently drunk uncle like to say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

What I’m trying to say with that vague cliché is that the very first thing you write most likely won’t be the end all be all of writing. Your professor may not bow down at your knees, declaring that this is the most spectacular work they have ever read.

Picture the iconic scene from A Christmas Story where Ralphie falls into the fantasy that his teacher is going to give him an A+++++ for his essay on the “official Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot, range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.” In the end, Ralphie’s dreams were crushed when he received his paper back with a C+ and a note that says “You’ll shoot your eye out.”

Well, this is my advice to you. Don’t shoot your eye out! Don’t be devastated that a work of writing isn’t where you want it to be. Don’t be heartbroken if some of your writing, to put it plainly, just isn’t good. And this brings me back to why writing is like shopping in a thrift store.

When thrifting, you are going to find plenty of hideous things that you would scoff at the idea of wearing. And that’s okay. You are not looking to purchase the entire store; you simply want to find an item or two that you truly love. And this is how it should be with writing too.

Your writing doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It is natural for some of it to be bad–even horrendously bad–and some of it to be great. Don’t be too critical of the work that is bad, and move on to the next. Have patience in knowing that the more you write, the better it will be.

Finding Hidden Treasures:

Speaking of patience, let’s get into the crux of both writing and thrift shopping. That is, finding the hidden treasures and knowing where to look.

Like I said before, a lot of your writing, just like the clothing at Goodwill, is going to be bad. But the key to being a good writer, in my humble and well-informed opinion, is knowing how to recognize good writing when you see it. In order to be able to recognize good writing, you need to be able to do the following three key things: read, do some reading, and read a little bit more. And then after that, you should probably read.

In the words of Stephen King, “If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tool) to write.” Not to veer on the side of pretention, but King has a strong point here.

If you want to be a good writer, you need to read good writing. In fact, you not only need to, but you should want to.

Just like trifling through the endless racks at a thrift store may not feel fun, reading to get better at writing may also feel like a chore. To that I say, try to make it fun! Thrifting is always better with some headphones, a good playlist, an icy crisp Diet Coke, and nowhere to be all day. Make reading fun too! Find a genre or an author that you love. Read about topics that interest you. I promise you, reading will make you a better writer.

And now that you know how to recognize good writing, you can finally search for the hidden treasures in your own!

Embracing Imperfection:

Finally, when searching for these hidden treasures, you might not find exactly what you thought you were looking for.

Imagine you have spent hours at the Salvation Army, combing through the disregarded belongings of someone you will never know, and you finally see it. After riffling through shoes, decrepit and frankly quite stinky, you have come upon the most magical, mystical pair of Frye boots in the color banana, exactly your size. Just what you have always been looking for (If you are a fashion girlie, you will understand the significance of this).

After investigating the state of the inside of the shoe, you stick your feet in, feeling like Cinderella. Traipsing around the Salvation Army, your friends stare at you in envy, wishing they had seen the shoes first.

Then, after your final leap of joy, you come down from the air, feeling like you are hovering, only to break the heel of the left shoe. Dreams are shattered, hearts are broken. A tear may have been shed.

Now, what this long-winded hypothetical is intended to show is that (and don’t hate me for being obvious) nothing is perfect.

You may love a piece of your writing, even feel emotionally attached to it, but you know it is not perfect yet. There is something that is missing or some plot hole you just can’t seem to figure out. Your frustration may lead you to think this is bad writing and want to give up on the idea completely, but my suggestion is DON’T.

Just because a piece of writing is not perfect does not mean it is not worth reading. There are so many solutions to this feeling. You can step away from the writing for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes. This break may allow you to see where you were getting stuck. Or, you can keep writing without a clear plan. Let the plot or the characters take you where they want to go. It may seem messy, but it could also lead to a surprise in your writing that even you weren’t expecting.

What I’m really saying is: get the Frye boots. Slap some gorilla glue on that heel and glue that shit back together. Just because something isn’t perfect, doesn’t mean it lacks the potential to be great!

Buttoning it All Up:

If you found yourself doubting my comparisons within this post, I dare you to scour Goodwill for two hours, and then try to write a short story. You may find yourself relating to my plights. Now, go read. Go write. Go shop.